The task of this article is to analyse the history and modern practices of social partnership in countries of the West, as well as problems of Russian tripartism. Focusing on the evolving institutions of interaction of business, trade unions and the state in regulating the relations at the labour market, the author considers the main stages of their evolution, as well as the formation, in a number of developed countries, the model of “new tripartism”, in the framework of which the interaction is embracing a large set of organizations of civil society. As a result, the agenda of the negotiation process is changing, a considerable variety of forms of interaction institutions is observed. What is also changing is the role of business, new forms of interaction are being actively developed, such as the state-private partnership. As for the model of tripartist relations that has formed in Russia, it has a peripheral character; imitating the existing patterns, it does not allow to fill the dialogue with a real content. The article substantiates the thesis of the necessity of renovating the existing system, of including the structures of civil society into it, of making use of the public chambers, functioning in the center and in regions, for this purpose. Potential difficulties, as well as prospects, of the eventual formation of institutions of “new tripartism” in Russia are analysed.